Is this a scam?

Hello I received a friend request on Instagram from a person called @dalton_raymond3 saying that is a military on Iraq in a mission bla, bla, bla.
His telephone number is +1 681-238-1203. I not believe in any word and thought that the account is very suspicious. Had anyone know him or can tell me how to identify a scam profile?

[AlanJones]

The fact that he claims to be US military on deployment yet is hitting up random profiles on Instagram is enough to say with 100% certainty that he is a scammer. If he was real, he would be spending what little free time he has talking to his real friends and family, not random people on the Internet.

Actually this is caught my attention because he is all the time on internet, I don't reply but he is insisting. And I thought that someone deployment would have all this time free. Why people do that?
Thanks a lot